Every year, there are numerous drowning deaths attributed to unattended children in public and private swimming pools and other open bodies of water. There are a variety of flotation devices available for use in pools, such as long tubes of styrofoam (commercially known as “noodles”), full body “life vests”, inflatable rings, inflatable rings in the shape of animals, and inflatable arm bands, among others.
Currently, the most popular device is a set of “water wings”, also known as “floaties” or “swimmies”. These devices are two inflatable bladders that form a ring around each arm of the user. Once inflated with air, these “water wings” sit high on the user's arms and keep the user afloat. They are buoyant, so the arm is naturally lifted to the surface, together with the user. They are individually slid onto one or both arms.
The inflatable bladders are kept on the arms by friction created between the skin and the bladder, or by the natural bend of the elbow, or the force of the arms against the water surface. Essentially, there presently is no safe or consistent method of keeping these arm bladders in place on the arms.
When worn by children, these devices typically must be put on by an adult—which usually means that at some point the children try to remove them. Anecdotally, children are known to remove one or both water wings as soon as the adult turns their back, creating an unsafe situation. Alternatively, one or both of the water wings can slip off while the child is playing either in or before entering a pool. Apart from being intentionally removed from the arms by the child, the wings may come off accidentally.
Another danger facing all individuals, be they young or old, is sun exposure. Children are especially susceptible to sunburns and long term overexposure. It has been shown that sun exposure in the first 10 years of life partly determine a persons lifetime potential for skin cancer.
The most popular method of protecting children from sun exposure is sunscreen. However, even when a broad spectrum sunscreen is applied, it does not offer full protection from the sun. It must be applied 20 minutes before the child goes outside and reapplied frequently. Sweat, dirt and water can all have an impact on the efficacy of the sunscreen.
Thus, there remains a need to secure inflatable arm band flotation devices on the arms of a user, and in particular on children, to inhibit accidental or unintentional removal of one or both devices and protect the same from sun overexposure.